A Day at the Office

Today we were at the Microfinance office at the University of Iringa working on organization, reporting, accounting procedures, files, etc.  With 2,300 families having full membership and another 1,000 in process at 42 different locations; there is a lot to keep track of.  First however, we had to take a look at our new building.

Our new building is very near completion, having been delayed a bit by some deliveries and the spring rains.  We hope, however, that we will be occupying it within a few weeks.  The building was built through the generous donation of the Peter J. King Foundation and last Monday, with Peter’s son Russel in attendance, Bishop Mdegela blessed the building.  A blessing is what is done here in the same way that a dedication would be done in the US.  It is a beautiful building, set among some trees behind the dormitories.  We will be sure to post more shots of it when we move in.

We met Itiweni at the building and then walked over to the MFI offices.  When we got there the staff was hard at work on reports, updating records, and answering questions from our members.  Itiweni told us that answering questions has gotten to be nearly a full time job.  Last year we made over 1,300 loans.  This year we hope to make at least 1,700 loans.  With this many borrowers the SACCOS officers have many questions for the MFI staff.

We now have three full time staff in Iringa and we needed to discuss how our work should proceed, what reports we need to write, our formats, etc.  Then it was on to reconciling accounts.  If you've ever had difficulty reconciling your checking account with your bank statement, you may understand what took place.  In the end everything was reconciled!  We had a good lunch at the University café ($12.00 for 6 people), then worked through the afternoon. 

Spending time with the staff here always leaves us impressed with the high quality and dedication of our staff and our members.  Mr. Duma is a retired banker, and is the secretary of the Board of Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS.  He is spending 10-15 days a month working at the MFI offices reviewing and updating member records.  He is typical of our many members.  The board has offered to pay him for his time but he prefers to work unpaid and have his salary go towards loans for the members.

We got a lot done today but there is still a lot to do.  Tomorrow we will be back at the university to meet with the Vice Chancellor, and several other key staff members.  Then, if we can arrange it, we will be over to the diocese to brief people there.  It will likely be later in the week before we get started on our visits to the villages.

Peter Silayo has been working on our schedule for visits.  We hope to go 6 days a week.  Still, with stops at government offices, banks, etc. we will most likely only get to 25-30 out of our 42 locations.  There is never quite enough time.

Our new building is very pretty and well placed by the trees.  We hope to occupy it in another week or so.

Arriving at the MFI office we found everyone hard at work.

Even when you are busy there is time to share a joke.

Tom going over the accounts with Nuru.

Mr. Duma, a retired banker, is typical of our dedicated members.  He works 10-15 days a month on Iringa Hope Joint SACCOS Business.  He tells us that he would rather that we kept his salary and make a loan to someone who needs it.